Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting

Warm, gooey, delicious homemade cinnamon rolls topped with rich cream cheese frosting.

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The taste of a delicious, gooey cinnamon roll still warm from the oven feels like the gateway to the world to me.  I equate cinnamon rolls with travel, probably because of how ubiquitous Cinnabon stores are in American airports.  The smell of sweet cinnamon and coffee wafting through the air makes the experience of waiting in a busy airport terminal much more tolerable.

Although the smell from Cinnabon stores is amazing, their cinnamon rolls are a bit too sweet for me, so I wanted to come up with a go-to cinnamon roll recipe for home that wasn’t too difficult and also achieved the right balance of gooey frosting, cinnamon filling, and warm, freshly baked dough.  Here’s my version of ‘gateway to the world’ cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting.  Enjoy!

How to Make Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting

To make these cinnamon rolls at home, start by adding milk and and an egg to a bowl and set aside to allow it to come to room temperature.  We’re going to use instant yeast with this recipe, so we don’t need to dissolve the yeast in warm liquid first, but we do want our ingredients at least at room temperature when we begin.  Melt the butter in the microwave and add it to the bowl along with the sugar.  Mix well with a fork. At this point, go ahead and take out the cream cheese and butter for the frosting and filling, allowing them to soften.

Then add the dry ingredients: flour, salt, and instant yeast, and mix together with your hands.  Once the dough starts to come together, form it into a ball and place on a well floured surface.  Knead for a minute or two until the dough is smooth and elastic, then put in a large bowl sprayed with cooking spray (you could use the same bowl that you mixed the dough in; just wash it out first).  Cover with plastic wrap and put in a warm place for 60-90 minutes.  The dough will rise a bit, but not as much as bread dough would.  This is totally normal.

While the dough is rising, prepare the filling by mixing together the softened butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg until smooth.  When the dough is ready, roll into an approximately 10″ x 16″ rectangle on a well floured surface.  Then gently spread the filling on the dough.  Start rolling into a tight roll from the short (10″) edge.  When I made this recipe for photos, I was paying too much attention to the pictures and not enough to the steps, so I started rolling from the long edge first, then had to unroll and reroll from the short edge.  The end product tasted just as good, it just didn’t look very good.

Cut the roll into 6 pieces and place the pieces in a 9″ round baking pan sprayed with cooking spray.  Add plastic wrap and set aside for about 30 minutes.  Most of the expansion will take place in the oven, so don’t worry if the rolls look pretty small at this point.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Farenheit and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown.

While the rolls are baking, prepare the frosting.  Beat the cream cheese with butter until smooth, and then add the powdered sugar and vanilla extract.  Spread half of the frosting on the cinnamon rolls as soon as they come out of the oven.  Then add the remaining frosting after they’ve cooled a bit and serve.

Let me know what you think of these cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting by leaving a comment and a review below!